This is one of those recipes…
One of those recipes that’s impossible to stop eating until every last chocolate bite has disappeared. Rich dark chocolate, complemented by creamy banana filling…
I made two batches (for five of us who were watching the Olympics last night). One batch was just banana and a second batch was peanut butter banana, where I blended a big spoonful of crunchy peanut butter into the filling.
There were no leftovers.
Monkey See Monkey… Eat
The summer after I finished third grade, my family took a trip to Vermont and stopped at the Ben & Jerry’s factory to see how ice cream is made. (I think that same summer, we visited a brewery and got to see how beer is made. It was a very educational summer for me!)
After touring the factory came the best part: sampling ice cream. We tried chocolate, we tried Cherry Garcia, and finally we tried their #1 seller, Chunky Monkey. I decided this flavor was my favorite, mostly because I thought the name was funny. The tour guide then informed us that this particular product had a different name in Japan; it was simply called Banana Nut. Apparently, if you try to translate the name to Japanese, you get “Chunks of Monkey.”
Ever since that trip, whenever I see anything chocolate-and-banana flavored, my mind automatically thinks of chunks of monkey.
So… who’s hungry now? 
Chocolate Monkey Bites
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup virgin coconut oil, melted
- 20-30 nunaturals vanilla stevia drops (or 3-4 tbsp liquid sweetener, such as agave)
- 1/2 a banana (see “nutrition info” link below for all substitution notes in this recipe)
- tiny pinch salt
- optional: 1-2 tbsp peanut butter (or pb2, or another nut butter)
Combine first three ingredients in a bowl and stir until it makes a chocolate sauce. Pour a little of the sauce (saving the rest for later) into the bottoms of cupcake liners, mini cupcake liners, or candy molds. Then freeze 8-10 minutes. Meanwhile, blend (or mash and stir with a fork) the banana, salt, and optional ingredients. Take liners out of the freezer and top each with banana mixture. Now evenly distribute the rest of the chocolate and re-freeze until solid. This recipe makes 9-10 mini cups (as shown in the photos).
View Monkey Bites Nutrition Facts
Link of the Day:
so not into bananas 🙁
I would love to see a raspberry-cream version! maybe with cashews and frozen raspberries??
Carob powder works great too! Yum!!
Made these today! How would you suggest making a version with just a PB filling without the banana?
Omit the banana and just fill with plain old peanut butter.
Or you could use the filling for my Reeses eggs recipe :).
My dream cup would definitely be filled with cookie dough!!
There used to be a candy bar called Cherry Ripe. It was from Australia. Maybe they still have them? Anyway,it was my favorite as a younger version of me! It was chopped up red cherries and coconut mixed together covered in rich dark chocolate! So, my vote would be something like that!
Yep, Australia still has Cherry Ripes! Not so fond of them myself though…
This looks amazing! I want to mix the banana and the PB together inside.
Thanks for sharing Katie 🙂
I love anything with frozen bananas. I can imagine these being a perfect snack to beat the summer heat!
YUM!! looks delicious!! Will have to try soon!!
Trader Joes Cookie Butter! Omg it’s KILLER!!!
i’m gonna have to go with nutella as well, but also..
some type of combination of white chocolate and either coconut or caramel
Another great recipe! You’ve got skills girl! I would so love to try some of those peanut butter bites.
Oh my dear. Those look AMAZING! I am totally in a chocolate mood! 😉
I’d definitelly do an almond butter cup!
A caramel cup would be awesome! But is there such a thing as vegan caramel?
Also, I’m curious Katie, if you have ever tried making a non dairy milk chocolate? I love the dark chocolate recipe, but sometimes I find myself wanting something lighter. 🙂
There definitely IS vegan caramel 🙂
You can just sub Earth Balance for the butter in recipes… I’ve also seen recipes that use canned coconut milk for the heavy cream.
I’ve not tried to make a milk chocolate bar… yet.
Strawberry Banana PB cup!!!!
Do you have a banana cream pie recipe? That would be awesome!
I don’t… I think I need one!
Here’s a FABULOUS cream pie. It’s a strawberry cream pie, but I’ve made it banana, mango, mixed fruit. I make some changes but this is an awesome basic cream pie recipe. I prefer a simple date and almond crust, but again, awesome base for your tweaks 🙂
And it’s RAW!!! 🙂
http://www.rawmazing.com/raw-strawberry-cream-pie/